About

Bass Pro Shops Nude Swimmer, also known as Naked Man Jumping Into Bass Pro Shop Fish Tank, refers to the viral video of a 42-year-old Alabama man who removed his clothing and jumped into the large fish tank of a Bass Pro Shops location in Leeds, Alabama in early January 2024. News of his arrest and the release of the footage led to memes and discussions online about the act itself and the subject for his physical state.

Origin

On January 6th, 2024, an unknown 42-year-old man (purported to be named "Owens") jumped into the fish tank of the Bass Pro Shops store located in Leeds, Alabama while completely unclothed just before closing time. According to police, he stripped after crashing his car and ran into the store, proceeding to jump into the large indoor fish tank (edited and censored video of the incident seen below).^[5]

The video was posted that same day by the X / Twitter account @rawsalerts,^[1] which posted a snippet of a video featuring the man in the fish tank that received over 8.4 million views and 8,900 likes in 48 hours. The caption with the video stated that the 42-year-old also crashed their car in the parking lot prior to the swim and claimed that it was part of a mental breakdown by the man (shown below).

Spread

News of the event quickly spread on X and other social media platforms, leading to many different memes being made at the man's expense in early January 2024. Due to multiple different video recordings and images of the guy showing his uncensored privates going around, which many joked was a "smaller package," the word "shrinkage" notably began to trend online, with people making humorous comments and memes.

For example, on January 6th, 2024, the X account @jswtreeman^[2] uploaded a George Bush Learning About 9/11 meme in which Bush is being told that there is shrinkage happening in Alabama (shown below). The post received over 76,200 views and 400 likes in 48 hours.

Due to the way he was carried away in handcuffs by two officers holding him up in the arrest footage, another common meme that was created revolved around a South Park reference. On January 6th, X user @CensoredByX^[3] uploaded a photo of the arrest with Randy Marsh from his Oh, I'm Sorry, I Thought This Was America scene edited into Owen's place, garnering over 12,000 views and 190 likes in 48 hours (shown below).

In the video, the man is also seen climbing out of the fish tank and falling on the ground, lying still for several seconds. The image of him laying on the ground also started to be used as a meme similar to Family Guy Death Pose and Yamcha's Death Pose, with his body being edited into other environments.

For example, on January 8th, 2024, X user @CHINAROLLED^[4] uploaded a screenshot from the game Disco Elysium with Owens being seen on the floor as an environmental detail (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References